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daisychain01_gw

how to get rid of a rooming/drug house?

daisychain01
10 years ago

We live in an urban residential area on a block where all the neighbours know each other, live in the front yards, mostly families and young professionals. We chose this area because of its diversity and because rising house prices in our city made it a good option for us when we were starting out. It is our forever home. There have always been a few rentals on the block and the landlords have taken good care of their places and had good tenants.

Recently, a large home sold to an out of town landlord who has turned it into a rooming house. Drug dealers have moved in and the police are there constantly. We've all had bikes stolen, garages broken into, etc. I no longer feel safe in my own home. This week, I'm back to work and usually leave my two girls at home until next week when school starts. I really don't feel safe doing that now. I feel like we are being held hostage in our own homes and there is nothing we can do.

We've called the city because they don't have variances to be a rooming house and they said that there is not a lot they can do about it. All the neighbours call the police when ever they see something going on, but despite many visits from the police, they are still there.

Has anyone else had to deal with this? Any advice?

Comments (15)

  • deeinohio
    10 years ago

    As a former police insider, I can guarantee you that, unless your local department is incompetent, they are doing everything they can to stop this, usually a series of drug buys over time to prove ongoing drug activity. You may not see what they're doing, and they won't share the details with you, but no police department I know tolerates putting so much precious manpower toward one target.

    But, as always, squeaky wheel.

    I might also write a letter to the current owner reminding him that property can be seized by police when used in criminal activity, even when it's not by him.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Seized property

  • gsciencechick
    10 years ago

    Is there some type of code enforcement through your city you can contact? Do you have any sort of neighborhood association/HOA? We have a neighborhood association vs. mandatory HOA, but the police have always been very good about working with us on crimewatch. Is there a specific crimewatch/neighborhood division from the Police Dept? We have specific officers assigned to our region and they are very proactive.

  • kellyeng
    10 years ago

    - You need to organize as a community - send letters, create a petition, as a group go to every city counsel meeting.

    - Write a strongly worded letter to the owner of the property. Let them know what's happening and infer that they may have liability.

    - Call the police for even the slightest issue going on at that house. My guess is that there are a lot of cars parked there - possibly illegally?

    The hardest part is that you have to be relentless and your neighborhood needs to speak as one. Good luck!

  • daisychain01
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    dee that is good to hear. I think I need to call the police and just have a discussion about how it is affecting our block etc. and get their response rather than just calling to file complaints.

    We've paid to have a property title search done, but because it sold in the last 6 months, it came back with the old owners name rather than the new owners so we don't have any way of contacting them to let them know what is going on.

    gsciencechick, I will call today to find out about crimewatch and what support we can get from the police.

    Thanks so much. These are great first steps. We've never had to deal with anything more than a neighbour who won't cut their grass and our usual way of solving probs like this is to kill them with kindness (ie doing things like offering to mow their grass for them). Maybe I should start stopping by with cookies and invite them over for coffee :-)

  • neetsiepie
    10 years ago

    You should be able to obtain the ownership information without a title search by going to the tax assessor office (assuming you pay property taxes where you live). That information is free.

    At our old house, there was a fellow who lived next door for years, always a kook, but nothing troublesome. He smoked pot, but was not a problem-until he got a new roommate. New roommate was into hard drugs and was dealing. Every day more and more cars would pull up and things started getting scary. When there were a bunch of cars parked in the field where our kids rode their bikes-full of obvious gang bangers, we really hit the roof. I started calling the police and writing down license plates. I called daily-and I later found out that other neighbors called too. I was getting frustrated, we too started to feel like we were trapped in our home.

    Then one weekend while we were out of town we came home to learn that that house had been the subject of a shootout!! One of the roommates friends had apparently committed a murder (drug related) and fled to that house where he was in a shoot out with the police! Neighbors said our house was used by the police as a staging area.

    Within a couple days the absentee owner of the house had kicked out the neighbor and roommate because the city had threatened to seize the house as a nuisance and the owner being negligent. Apparently our city has an ordinance about that.

    So, I'd continue to be dilligent with reporting. Write license plates down and send them to the police and DA's office. DO NOT go approach anyone at that house-but it couldn't hurt to try to join forces with other neighbors. And talk to the police to see what else you can do. Good luck!

  • liriodendron
    10 years ago

    Paid to have a property title search done and only got outdated info? What a rip-off!

    That's usually public information that can be obtained, for free, at the office where the deeds are filed, or the office that that issues the tax bills. It's extremely unlikely that they don't have ownership info that's up-to-the-day correct. In my area they summarize the filed deeds and mortgages twice a day. Each document is time/date stamped in when received.

    Believe me, the city or county wants to know exactly where to send the property tax bill. And title to a property is rarely in limbo. Occasionally the buyers' closing attorney is tardy in filing the document, but if there's any financing involved the lender wants to be sure their claim to the collateral is promptly, and duly entered. And it's in the seller's interest to make sure their names are removed from the title once they've got their money.

    I would just go vsit the deed filing office (usually county, but in cities, may be municipal). Ask for help to see who owns the property, now.

    Many places the ownership docs (deed transfers and mortgages, etc.) are online as soon as filed.

    L.

  • dedtired
    10 years ago

    I am just so sorry to hear this. I also suggest that the neighbors keep the pressure on. Can your local tv station help you? Sometimes they do reports about unresolved problems.

    I've lived in my house for 40 years and there never was a burglary on my street. Yesterday a house was broken into. All I can say is that burglar had chutzpah because our houses are close together and the neighbors are nosy. Last night I left all my outside lights on and double locked all the doors. Sucks.

    Anyway, good luck to you. That really sicks and I just can't believe the police won't do anything about criminal activity. No, you can't leave your daughters alone in that situation. Believe me, the criminal element is just looking for any opportunity, and two kids alone are at risk.

  • Olychick
    10 years ago

    Good for you and your neighbors for taking action. Do you have the former owners contact info or know someone who would? You can find out from them who bought the home. They likely have a local property manager (our state requires an in-state contact for paying the rent to) and may not be aware of the type of folks that they are renting to.

  • camlan
    10 years ago

    If they don't have variances to be a rooming house, the city *should* be able to do something about it. Otherwise, why bother to require the variances?

    Don't take the person from City Hall at their word. Check the city bylaws yourself to see what the consequences are for not having the proper variances. You might need to have a lawyer help you out with this.

    Then pester the appropriate city office to do something about it.

    That would be in addition to calling the police constantly for the drug dealing.

    The goal is to alert as many authorities as possible about the situation, so that something gets done by someone.

    One place I lived had a drug dealer living there--before I moved in. The other tenants managed to get him out, by notifying the city that he was running a business from his home. While this was allowed, the amount of traffic the drug dealing generated was not, and that's what got him in trouble. At least at the start. The police got involved at some point.

  • daisychain01
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    THanks so much for the advice and stories. This has me so depressed and angry. I just want to walk over and give them the whole "how dare you do this to our street ... " speech. So the advice/reminder to avoid confrontation was needed.

    It is also a busy time of year for me, so I was really hoping that they would just disappear. It looks like it may be a long road ahead. Sigh.

  • texanjana
    10 years ago

    Wow, no I have never dealt with anything like this. It sounds horrific. Pesky-that is one scary story. I know that here you can search the appraisal district online for any address and/or name. Completely free, so check into that for owner info. I hope you and your neighbors are successful!

  • Olychick
    10 years ago

    I had another thought...you could check the CL ads for rooms for rent to see if you might recognize the description of the place (in case they have any vacancies) and get a number for the property manager or owner.

  • daisychain01
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks olychick. There was an ad, but it's been pulled so I can read the ad but can't see any of contact info. I'll try the tax dept. We are in Canada so some of the rules may be different here. It was the zoning people that told me to do the land titles search to find the owners name and they may not have known there are other options. I'll keep trying. Thanks again, everyone.

    Tomorrow I'm off to buy bars for the basement windows and a fake survelience sign.

  • daisychain01
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Well, we seem to have some sort of a resolution, so I thought I would post a follow up.

    We spoke with the law firm that was to handle the sale of the house back in May. Online it looked like it had sold then. However, the law firm said that the out of town owners wanted to sell, but weren't allowed to because of existing tenants. Get this, the tenants had stopped paying rent and were essentially squatting. The electrical wasn't being paid, so it was cut off. The renters complained and it was turned back on and the rent (that wasn't being paid) was to be garnished (is that the right word?) to cover it. One of the renters was hauled off to jail, but left his girlfriend behind and she then invited many of her criminally involved friends to move in (rent free - how could they resist?). The law firm was trying to get them out so they could sell the house and last Saturday the house was swarmed with police and animal services cars (again) and it seems they are now gone. We let the law firm know the house seems empty and they said they were going in to try to secure it (new locks) and get it ready for sale. Fingers crossed we get a better owner this time. Everyone on the block is going to spread the word to friends and family looking for a place. I wish I had money and energy to take on the project to flip and sell - it's a gorgeous old house.

  • ellendi
    10 years ago

    Too bad you can't buy it as a group!